Content marketing strategies are increasingly focussed on digital avenues, however recent research has found that 60 per cent of digital marketing spend is wasted.

The Proxima report found that 54 per cent of online advertisements are not seen by humans.

For 2015, UK companies have so far spent 50 per cent of their advertising spend on digital media, compared to only 16 per cent of budgets spent on print ads.

Evidently, marketers are looking at smartphones, tablets and general online browsing to drive their ad revenues, however, research shows that this effort is redundant.

Up to $37 billion of worldwide marketing budgets are being wasted on poor digital marketing performance.

The report said: “As companies look to increase investment in digital, with the expectation of driving greater return and close engagement with customers, many are struggling to connect digital spend with commercial outcomes”.

When asked to rate their ability to measure ROI from digital channels from ‘good’, ‘okay’ or ‘poor’, research has shown that in-house marketers are unable to effectively understand the effects of their data.

Video marketing was the most difficult to assess, with only 13 per cent rating ability as ‘good’, and 39 per cent seeing the media channel as a poor way to measure ROI.

Content marketing fared little better, seeing 43 per cent of those surveyed thought the channel was poor compared to the 16 per cent who rated it positively.

17.5 per cent of respondents thought ROI could be measured effectively from mobile marketing channels, followed by social media (21 per cent). The channels were deemed poor at 35.5 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.

Despite these difficulties, digital is the fastest growing marketing channel and companies are seeking to increase their investment.

Over 60 per cent intend to increase spend for email channels, while over a third looking to decrease spending for printed advertisements and 22 per cent intend to reduce direct mail advertising.